Bridgeton pioneer., 1887-11-24
MCGOWAN & NICHOLS, Publisher
NOT MUCH CIDER.
A Great Scarcity Of Apples
This Fall.

1t will be tight squeeze to make
the sweet cider go around this
winter. The oceans of apple juice
that flow from the Jersey presses have
dwindled down to shallow lake on
the borders of which sit an army of
weeping cider drinkers. This has
been an off year for apples, and as a
consequence the big presses in the
upper part of the State, have done
but little more business than has Eli
Minch's big press on Water street, and
that is but a very small proportion of
what can be done when the fruit which
caused the down fall of Adam is plenti-
full.
In the State there are several very
large cider presses, the largest one be-
ing at Evansville, Burlington county.
This mill has a capacity of grinding
1900 bushels of apples per day, but
during the entire season of this year it
is estimated that there has been not
more than 5000 bushels turned into the
beverage, of which almost every man
and woman is delighted to take a sip.
1t is estimated that the entire yield of
cider will be less than 10000 gallons in
this State, and little of this will be
vinegar as much of it was drank as
soon as made. The men most noted
in this State for cider making are
Robt. Laird, Lyle Conover, Josiah
Evans, Amas Anley, Stacy B. Scott
and Eli Minch. Some of these men
have great deal of money invested in
this business and their profits are
making them Independently rich.
A half-century ago every farmer in
New Jersey had a cider press. The
little circular mill was just outside the
she'd The lankiest horse on the farm
was hitched to the swingIetree and
spun miles around in little circle
grinding apples to pulp in the little
mill. The crushed apples were trans
ferred to an old-fashioned hand press
and covered with clean straw. A
small ten-gallon tub caught the little
streams as they oozed from beneath
the covering. The barrels were stored
away in the cellar-some to get hard
for winter evenings, and the others to
make good proof vinegar. Every
small boy was adept at absorbing cider
through a straw. In those halcyon
days cider-making had a charm, and
the day was concluded with jolly
dance of all the young beaux and
bellies for miles around. While the
young folks made the luscious autumn
drink the matrons were outside at the
fire stirring the umber-brown apple
butter which gives every country
larder wholesome odor in winter.
There is no poetry in cider-making
now. The putting of the steam engine
takes the place of the merry prattle of
the young people, and stern-looking
men working for days wages now
stand at their post mechanically feed
ing the hopper and filling the press.
The farmer leaves home in the morn
ing with his load of apples and goes to
the mill. He returns home before sup
per with his infant prodigy straddled
over a barrel of cider, waving his hat
triumphantly. The readymade cider
is served up in big goblets just before
retiring time.
Minch's mill in this city is run by
steam, and it is novel contrivance.
A couple of men are kept busy shovel
ing the apples from the bins to the
hopper and in less time than it takes
to write it, the pulp falls into the bin
below and is thrown on moving plat
forms and is carefully packed. 1t is
covered with cotton cloths, made for
cider presses. When the crushed
apples are stacked the platform is
railroaded under the presses and a
gradual pressure put on it. The juice
is crushed into half hogsheads. While
one platform is being pressed another
stack is being heaped from the hopper.
The work is continual. 1t takes an
enormous stock of applos to keep the
, presses under way. Farmers often
furnish apples on shares and some
times it is necessary to get them from
other States by the carloads.
Samuel johnson, of Upper Pitts
grove, Salem County, gathered 5000
bushels of corn from thirty acres this
Fall, so says the Pennsgrove Record.
This is about 147 bushels to the acre,
and one of the biggest corn yarns on
roonrd NaYf